Liima: glued together

Perhaps some amongst you remember Efterklang’s incredible performance at Supersonic Festival in 2008, when they played beside the drained pool in the Custard Factory courtyard?

Now, Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen and Rasmus Stolberg, founding members of Efterklang and friends since childhood, have come together with Finnish percussionist Tatu Rönkkö to form a new band. Called Liima, the Finnish word for ‘glue’, the group perform at Supersonic Festival this year.

Rönkkö appears to be at the heart of Liima, which is a live improvisation project. Conceptually, this is something of a palate cleanser and a departure for the members of Efterklang, who, after knowing each other for sixteen years, welcomed Rönkkö as their drummer upon the release of their most recent album, Piramida. During lengthy tours, the magnetic energy of Rönkkö’s spontaneous percussion improvisations in between songs proved to be the kernel for Liima.

What the four-piece have created is intentionally the polar opposite of Efterklang’s meticulous, painstakingly crafted music. The band meet in a city of their choosing, experiment for a week and perform the results. Below is a magical recording from their debut performance at Our Festival in Finland, July 2014, presented as part of Efterklang’s own The Lake radio programme:

On a visceral level, Efterklang and Liima seem to be on a continuum that celebrates the power and depth of musical relationships. Indeed, Liima being the Finnish word for ‘glue’ is an apt metaphor for the band’s combination of processed vocals, guitar, looped percussion and complex interweaving synthesised sounds, which create a free and emotionally raw live experience.

Over the course of two weeks in Finland during the summer of 2014, Liima wrote and improvised a collection of music to be performed at Pekka Kuusisto’s Our Festival. This was followed by nine days in Berlin last autumn, writing five additional songs that premiered during a private gathering at Berlin’s Vox-Ton Studio. Most recently, Liima spent one January week at Istanbul’s Salon IKSV, crafting and performing even more unique songs, and will venture to Madeira, Portugal, to do the same over 7 days this May.

Have a look at this performance of a piece called Centuries and Love, created and performed at Salon, Istanbul in January:

From these residencies and their fresh take on the songwriting process, Liima has created a whole new world of music for us to enjoy. They will take the new songs on the road this summer, stopping at Supersonic Festival. Tickets are available via our Kickstarter campaign (just nine days left to pledge your support!).